The present invention relates to a luggage container having wheels with shock absorbers.
Such a roller arrangement, as described in British Patent publication 2,304,095 or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,482, is particularly common in hard-shell suitcases, but also increasingly in hand luggage such as conventional trolleys. Such roller arrangements have for this purpose reinforced rounded corners in which rollers are mounted having running surfaces extending over the corresponding roller housing in the corner area, in such a way that in each case contact with the ground is maintained when such luggage is switched in the position for pulling.
According to one roller arrangement, which is described in British Patent GB860352A, a roller is mounted by a pivoting lever or arm which is supported against an elastomer pad inside a roller housing or well.
The known roller arrangements have the disadvantage that shocks caused by the irregularities of the ground are transmitted to the luggage containers without sufficient absorption, since the surface of the roller generally is provided by a wheel ring made of a relatively hard elastomer. In the case of heavy luggage containers, there is after a short time of use the danger that the ring be destroyed which generates high repair costs, particularly since the simple replacement of the roller by the user is not possible most of the time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a roller arrangement which not only has a lifetime which is longer than the known roller arrangements, but also which improves the rolling comfort or smoothness of the ride as the luggage container is in motion.
According to the invention, there is provided a luggage container having a roller arrangement for rolling movement of luggage containers such as suitcases trolleys, and the like, wherein one or more rollers are each rotatably mounted in a corner area of the lower bottom edge of a container in a roller housing which reinforces the corner, wherein in the roller housing a pivot arm is pivotally mounted to which at least one said roller is mounted at a distance from a bearing of said roller, movement of said pivot arm being cushioned, in both pivot directions, by one or more elastomeric pads.
In this respect, it is particularly important to stress that the roller in each housing is not mounted directly but rather by a pivoting member whose movements are damped by one or more elastomeric pads or specific elastomeric absorbers. For this purpose, there is provided, in an appropriate order between the pivoting members and the roller housing, such elastomeric pads or elastomeric absorbers as damping elements. It is particularly advantageous that damping elements are provided both above and below the pivoting member with respect to the pulling position of the luggage. This way, vertical shocks are efficiently absorbed, particularly for the vertical component of the shock absorption.
Due to the shock absorption of the pivoting member, a desirable decrease in the noise is obtained, i.e. in particular the shocks caused by cracks or seams in the floor or pavement are absorbed.
According to the invention, elastomer pads or absorbers having different softness or flexibility can be chosen as necessary; e.g. it is also possible that the absorber which is placed rearwardly above, on which essentially the total weight of the luggage rests, be relatively soft, while the lower absorbers provided on the front side of the pivoting member, be relatively stiff to limit the amplitude of the swing.